Music

On a pair of free albums, “Ghosts V: Together” and “Ghosts VI: Locusts,” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s suspenseful sounds feel very much of the moment. More

On New Year’s Eve 1980, Kathy Valentine, not yet 22, played her first show with a fledgling Los Angeles group called the Go-Go’s. Less than 18 months later, their debut album, “Beauty and the Beat,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard chart. They were the first all-female rock band to earn that distinction.Against all odds, the Go-Go’s have endured as a beloved purveyor of timeless power pop, known for classic hits including “Vacation” and “Head Over Heels,” both of which Valentine helped write. Naturally, the band plays a large part in her new memoir, “All I Ever Wanted: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir” — for which the bassist and guitarist also wrote a companion soundtrack of 15 new songs. It’s a colorful part, too, because behind their wholesome image, the Go-Go’s were a hard-partying band.“If ‘pop sweethearts’ did acid at Graceland, threw up on the floor at fancy restaurants, cheated on their boyfriends, took nasty Polaroids, made out with girls, watched fringe porn, and stayed up all night writing songs and playing guitar,” she writes, “well, maybe their stupid label might fit.”Valentine, 61, talked about some of her favorite cultural offerings from her home in Austin, Texas. These are edited excerpts from a Skype conversation.1. The MemeIn a lot of ways memes dumb down stuff, but conceptually I love what they have brought to our lives. Sometimes I walk out of my bedroom and my hair or my clothes are crazy. And my daughter goes: “You’re a meme.” I can just say “My cat’s a meme” and people get it. It’s this warped perspective that seems to touch everyone.2. KitschIt has to be vintage. I brought an example [holds it up]. It’s a Sexometer that tells you if you’re “worthless,” “a square,” “romantic,” ”sex starved.” I’m an “amateur.” When I was a little girl, we’d be driving on the freeway in Texas and there’d be these roadside attractions and I wanted to stop so badly. And if we did stop, it would be horrible, like animals in formaldehyde jars. I used to have a collection of Buddhas and this is the one I kept [holds up a pink-velvet Buddha]. He’s also a piggy bank — a Buddha bank. I’ve had my collecting bouts but I’m pushing things out.3. Jenny HolzerMy boyfriend, who lives in New York City — we’re in a long-distance relationship — is a composer and multimedia artist named Mikel Rouse. He’s my favorite person to go to museums with because he tells me everything about the art, the artist, the movement, and does not use art-speak, which I hate. I was a little familiar with Jenny Holzer but a few years ago I was with my daughter at the Tate Modern and we walked into a Jenny Holzer room. Seeing art affect her was so special. I could see her linger, with things going on in her head and in her heart. It made me very grateful to Jenny Holzer.4. Words With FriendsI have 27 games going at a time [laughs]. I like it because it’s words, but also you do it at your leisure, it doesn’t trigger obsession. It’s a part of my life that I don’t know that I’m proud of, exactly, but it’s a big part. I’m a Scrabble ninja with this game. Sometimes if I’m winning I just throw one out, but if I’m behind, I will spend hours if not days trying everything to get the most points. I play to win.5. Wislawa SzymborskaI discovered her probably at the end of the ’90s. I wanted to be literate with poetry so I went to the poetry section at the bookstore and pulled a few books I had heard of, a few I hadn’t heard of. As soon as I opened hers, I was drawn in. Sometimes when I’m stuck on a line in a song, I flip through one of her books. She reboots my perspective and makes me approach my writing a little differently. I love how she approaches things that are deep and heavy with a light touch, humor and humanity. She’s my favorite.6. Patti Smith’s “Just Kids” and Bob Dylan’s “Chronicles — Volume One”They were an essential part of writing my memoir. I knew I wouldn’t arrive where they did but they gave me things to shoot for. I kept them on my desk when I was writing, just so I could see them. They remain my two favorite memoirs by musicians.7. Janette Beckman and Roberta BayleyRoberta photographed a lot of the early punk days. She was just there, she worked at CBGB, she was friends with everybody, and her photos are amazing. Janette moved from England because she wanted to photograph the early hip-hop scene in New York and her images are just phenomenal. Mikel and my daughter have turned me on to hip-hop so I’m catching up on 40 years of a whole genre, and my friend [Janette] has these iconic photographs of Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Slick Rick. So it’s been fun to augment my hip-hop awakening with her work.8. Carol KayeShe was a session bass player and guitarist who played with everybody from Frank Sinatra to Frank Zappa. She just went in, took care of business, and played on hundreds of records. I reached out to her and she told me she really loves my work as a musician, so that’s really [lets out an excited whoop]. She must be in her 80s now. I said, “Can I come visit you?” and she said, “Why don’t we Skype first?”9. Old TwitterOld Twitter, as I call it, was very different. It changed my life for the better. It reminded me of what it was like to gather in France in the salons, where people were witty and good conversationalists. I had access to people who became friends in real life. Everyone from Rosanne Cash to Dave Hill, the comedian, to Lizz Winstead, the comic and activist. I always want it to feel like it used to be and it’s just not like that anymore.10. Television BondingMy favorite way to watch television is with somebody. There’s two shows that I love watching with somebody important to me. The first one is “The Office.” Teenagers today love [the American] “The Office.” Billie Eilish loves “The Office.” My daughter was no exception. I had seen the whole thing when it came out but rewatched it with her. When my boyfriend and I started dating, we watched “Arrested Development” and we had the best time. He’s one of these people who can quote every line from everything he ever sees. Those shows really stand up because they bring back memories of sharing the experience of watching with someone near and dear to me. More

The Weeknd’s new album, “After Hours,” debuted at the top of the latest Billboard album chart, with the equivalent of 444,000 sales in the United States, according to Nielsen — the biggest opening of the year so far.“After Hours” had 221 million streams and sold 275,000 copies as a full album. The sales were helped by a variety of bundles that included copies of the album with merchandise and tickets to the Weeknd’s tour, set to begin in June. But as with every other tour this year, the Weeknd’s plans on the road depend on how quickly the spread of the coronavirus is slowed, and much of the concert industry is bracing for summer shows to be postponed.Also this week, Lil Uzi Vert’s “Eternal Atake,” the top seller for the last two weeks, fell to No. 2. Lil Baby’s “My Turn” is No. 3 and Bad Bunny’s “YHLQMDLG” is No. 4.In fifth place is “Kid Crow,” the debut LP by the 21-year-old songwriter Conan Gray, who has been posting videos on YouTube since he was 9. More

This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.Alan Merrill, a guitarist and singer whose song “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll” became Joan Jett’s breakthrough hit, and who had early success as one of the few Western rock stars in Japan in the late 1960s and early ’70s, died on Sunday in Manhattan.The cause was complications of the coronavirus, his daughter Laura Merrill said. She said he was 69, although some documents indicate that he may have been 71.“I was just at his show a couple of weeks ago,” Ms. Merrill wrote in a post on Facebook announcing his death. “He played down the ‘cold’ he thought he had.”Mr. Merrill grew up in a family that was deeply connected to the music industry. His parents were both noted jazz musicians: His mother, Helen Merrill, is a singer; his father, Aaron Sachs, was a saxophonist and clarinetist who died in 2014. More

The “iHeart Living Room Concert for America,” broadcast Sunday night on Fox TV and the iHeartRadio network, was a downsized, deglamorized pop gala. With the coronavirus pandemic keeping Americans at home, the night that had originally been scheduled for the iHeartRadio Music Awards, now postponed, instead became a benefit show for the food-bank charity Feeding America and the First Responders Children’s Foundation.Between songs, video clips paid tribute to front-line workers: doctors, nurses, police officers and firefighters, truck drivers, grocery restockers, people frantically working to alleviate shortages of personal protective equipment. Elton John, the host of the hourlong show, called for donations as he introduced the performers. He also pointedly connected the pandemic to a previous one: H.I.V./AIDS.The stars wore hoodies, T-shirts, even pajama bottoms (that would be Brian Littrell of Backstreet Boys). Instead of sharing a big stage, they played on living-room couches or in home studios. Most of the show business and studio embellishments were stripped away for solo performances: songwriters alone with their guitars or keyboards, occasionally joined electronically by bandmates performing from their own isolated spaces. Whether the performances were actually live was debatable; some visuals were clearly edited. (And somehow, even solo-at-home segments often featured multiple camera angles.)But rough spots in the music weren’t tweaked. It was understated proof that even as contemporary pop productions are relentlessly computer-processed, there are real singers behind them.A few of the performers had songs to suit the moment: Alicia Keys sang her new “Underdog” fondly from her piano as she praised “people on the front lines knowing they don’t get to run.” Dave Grohl earnestly belted “My Hero” with an acoustic guitar, then suggested its chorus as a hand-washing song. Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” performed solo by a gum-chewing Billie Joe Armstrong, had a refrain made for social distancing: “I walk alone.” Demi Lovato emoted through part of her “Skyscraper,” about the aftermath of devastation.Others relied on less thematic hits. Backstreet Boys electronically synced up to share “I Want It That Way” over a studio backup track. Billie Eilish, with her brother Finneas on guitar, sang “Bad Guy” behind half-closed eyes, delivering each breathy phrase with deceptive nonchalance. A barefoot Camila Cabello, with her boyfriend Shawn Mendes on guitar, sang “My Oh My” with lavish melismas and consulted her phone to recall lyrics that had been rapped by DaBaby. Sam Smith performed “How Do You Sleep?” without the elaborate electronic counterpoint of its studio recording; instead, he sang it a cappella, snapping his fingers.Tim McGraw straddled the diving board of his swimming pool while he sang “Something Like That,” with studio musicians joining him remotely. Mariah Carey had backup too: a keyboardist and three singers filled out “Always Be My Baby,” which peaked with a high-note flourish. Meanwhile, without fanfare, H.E.R. unveiled a brand-new song: a plea for reconciliation with a lover called “Keep Holding On.”Seeing performers broadcasting from their homes offered not only a glimpse of personal spaces (and dogs) but of music in rudimentary form — without a band to punch it up, a studio realization to build its superstructure, a show to flesh it out. That kind of bare-bones intimacy has its charms, but also its limitations; there’s synergy in musicians striving together and using every tool and toy at their disposal. (Lady Gaga and Lizzo, both big-room troupers, appeared on the show to talk but not to sing.)The songs weren’t larger than life; they were room-size, or just screen-size. For all the sincere, we’re-all-in-this-together sentiments that were offered during the broadcast, this “living room concert” was also a clear reminder of our enforced state of isolation. More